I have to say, after seeing the monstrosity of twin-turbo exhaust systems on both the AER-BR-Dallara and the Nissan-Kolles cars......the single central turbo Ginetta will look awfully more sleek in comparison........much like the audi-Diesel was, the side pod exit was much clearer of clutter.

The Kolles in particular almost blocks off the entire side-pod outlet with turbos,pipes and wastegates.......I believe the side-pod exit helps drive the aero of the rear diffuser.......hardly a small consideration in the aero department.

We have to remember that the Peugeot 908 V12 had side exit exhaust and so did the Porsche RS Spyder, Acura ARX-02 and the Acrua/HPD ARX-01c. I know that's years ago, but it didn't seem to harm those vehicles performance.

Not to mention that the Pug had particle filters and the Porsche and Acura/HPD cars mentioned had mufflers in the sidepods. I'd think that a bigger issue would be heat from the exhaust messing with tire pressures

I believe this is possibly part of the anti-lag strategy (ALS) to keep the engine boost pressure up to a drivable level, whereby some extra fuel is injected when off-throttle, it ignites when it touches the hot exhaust manifold and causes a series of bangs through the exhaust turbine to keep it spinning for constant boost.

over-fuelling is generally frowned upon in endurance racing as you are otherwise wasting precious fuel......they possibly also have a fresh-air valve system to help air bypass the engine and go straight into the exhaust to help keep boost pressure up.

It was an ALS system pioneered in the early days of Turbo F1 cars in the 1980's, and then exploited further in WRC in the 1990's.......but the bangs were on another level.

I believe this is possibly part of the anti-lag strategy (ALS) to keep the engine boost pressure up to a drivable level, whereby some extra fuel is injected when off-throttle, it ignites when it touches the hot exhaust manifold and causes a series of bangs through the exhaust turbine to keep it spinning for constant boost.

over-fuelling is generally frowned upon in endurance racing as you are otherwise wasting precious fuel......they possibly also have a fresh-air valve system to help air bypass the engine and go straight into the exhaust to help keep boost pressure up.

It was an ALS system pioneered in the early days of Turbo F1 cars in the 1980's, and then exploited further in WRC in the 1990's.......but the bangs were on another level.

Is the air valve bypass the system that Ford use in the GT? Seem to remember something about that. It is a funny sounding thing on the over run.

Presented in Bahrain during the FIA WEC final, the BR1 has since cut asphalt in southern Europe. The LMP1 is back on track these days. SMP Racing has settled in Navarra for two days of driving with a BR1 sprint version. The team will work on the suspension and ride as much as possible.

This car/teams have definitely got the jump on the others in terms of testing. Only the ByKolles car has been running nearly as much so far. I'm sure the Rebellion will be based closely to the lmp2 Oreca so they have that to go on, but they definitely will need to upgrade the aero and understand the tires. I can't wait to see how they all perform relative to eachother and Toyota.

Here is SMP Racing Testing the BR1 with a low aero downforce kit. With many of the front end winglet elements gone. Also it looks from this angle the car is sporting a much shorter front overhang. I wonder if SMP Racing are going to run one of the cars with the higher downforce package at Spa and the other with the lower downforce package.